The judge excludes part of the testimony of Tirso Martínez against García Luna

Why is the trial of Genaro García Luna important?

4:22

(CNN Spanish) -- 

Federal Judge Brian Cogan, who is in charge of the drug trafficking trial against former Mexican Public Security Secretary Genaro García Luna, decided to exclude part of the testimony of Tirso Martínez alias "El Futbolista".

In responding to a defense request, the magistrate ruled that the testimonies date from 1993 or 1994 and 2000 "or possibly 2001."

It should be noted that García Luna is accused of crimes allegedly committed between 2001 and 2012, for which the judge described the testimony of "El Futbolista" as a "sideshow" and "waste of time". 

"The Court will not allow the jury to hear what amounts to a guilty plea of ​​the defendants," Cogan said in a court document dated Tuesday seen by CNN.  

• Why is the trial of Genaro García Luna important?

Martínez, a witness for the Attorney General's Office for the Eastern District of New York, is a convicted drug trafficker who was part of the Sinaloa cartel and testified in the trial against Joaquín "El Chapo" Guzmán in 2018. He was arrested in 2014 and extradited to the United States in 2015 .

Martinez pleaded guilty to distributing drugs with the intent to import them and was sentenced in 2020 to 84 months in prison in Brooklyn federal court.

Genaro García LunaDrug trafficking